It evokes both Sagan and Russia - two important aspects of (at the very least) the community that will surround this game, if not important aspects of the creation (I don't know how influenced Vladimir was by Sagan) of the game.

It's also as descriptive as you can get. The engine contains an incredibly complex (yet simplified) simulation of all of space and time.

I don't like the name Aurora. Parallax is better, but it doesn't seem relevant to the game. Cosmos, Kosmos, Space, and derivations thereof seem inadequate in my opinion.

Concerning the criticism of using SpaceEngine in the name, I would like to point out that SpaceEngine is not just the name of the engine, but also the name of the planetarium software itself. Seeing as how the game would be based upon that software, would be an extension of that software, having the name be an extension of SpaceEngine would be appropriate, though not necessary.

I rather like the name Final Frontier, but thanks to Star Trek that would be perceived as cheesy.

So I left the name "SpaceEngine". Initially this name was nothing more than a "graphics engine to render space". Eight years ago I only thought for a few minutes which name to choose for the project directory and main file name. My imagination left me and I named it just "SpaceEngine", looking to rename it later. Few years after I realize that "SpaceEngine" can be also read as "motor for space flight", so this name has a dual meanaing. it is not bad to make a game's name based on a technology without which the game would be impossible (such as "Mass Effect").

Anyway, "SpaceEngine" would not be the only game based on the SE Engine. I plan to make a second game - single player with varying time strategy about colonization and terraforming of the Solar System. It needs a good name too, which obviously cannot be "SpaceEngine".